Improvement in combination apparatus for games



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES N. HOYT, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 117,780, dated August 8, 187i.

T0 all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES N. HOYT, of the city und county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and Improved Apparatus for Combination Games, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a side elevation and section of said apparatus arranged for the ring game,77 so called. Fig. 2 is a plan of the same. Fig. 3 is a perspective view ot' the same arranged for the pocket game,77 so called. Fig. 4 is a like view of the bed of the apparatus arranged for playing pooh bagatelle, or ten-pins. Fig. 5 is a detached 'view of the removable portion of the bed, by which the same can be adapted to playing the various games.

. Similar letters indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

My said invention consists of a bed or table formed with a recess at one end for the reception of removable pieces or devices that constitute the feature of some game, and having, be sides, an adjustable inclined frame from which to suspend a swinging ball or a ring or other device constituting the feature oi a game.

In the drawing, B is the bed of the apparatus,- which should be, perhaps, somewhat longer in proportion than shown in the drawing. It issurrounded With a ledge or frame, S, and has extending across one end a recess or space, m., slightly below the surface of the bed, for the reception oi' a removable piece, like Fig. 5, or pieces that form a feature of some game, or to prevent the rebounding of the balls which are used in the game of ten-pins.

The apparatus, as shown in Figs-1 and 2, is

arranged for what is known as the ring game, which consists in throwing a ring, d, suspended by a cord,.n, in such a manner as to be caught upon one of a gang of numbered hooks on an inclined board, F, placed within the range ofthe swinging ring d. rIhe board F is secured to a piece of sheet metal, T, the curved end of which is inserted beneath the edgeof the bed B in the recess m, with the back ofthe board resting against the ledge or frame S. The ring is drawn back to a position, as shown by the dotted line in Fig. l, and let go, when it swings and catches on one of the hooks of the board, and this being repeated for an agreed number of times, and

catching upon differently-numbered hooks, the excess of the sum oil the number of the h ooks thus caught upon decides the winner, as between two or more persons. rlhe frame B is elevated to a position that will permit the ring to drop upon or among' the hooks on the board at the end of its swinging movement, and the frame is held in this and other positions of more or less inclination by the props H on each side.

The game shown in Fig. 3 isl the pocket game, in which a number oi' pockets, numbered l, 2, 3, 4, is arranged within the recess or space m, and a number of balls, agreed upon at the beginning of the gaine, is driven toward these pockets by suitable means, the number or the pocket which the balls enter making a count in the game. The balls may be driven with more or less accuracy with the cue of billiards; but I have dey vised and propose to use instead a swinging ball, I, suspended from the frame D by a cord, which, being drawn back and allowed to strike a ball, e, in position on the bed as it swings forward, drives the ball toward and perhaps into one of the pockets.

Instead of the pockets a number of pools or depressions may be used, like those shown in Figs. 4 and 5, in which the driven ball c is deposited, the number of the'pool counting toward game.

Besides this, ten-pinsmay be played with' the swinging ball, the pins being set in the usual manner on the form a a, Sto., and the ball c being driven against them by the swinging ball I, the frame D being in the requisite degree elevated or depressed to permit the striking of the stationary ball e in the proper Inanner to direct it against the standing pins.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The inclined frame D and its adjustable props H, in combination with the bed B, as and for the purpose speciied.

2. The removable pockets, as shown in Fig. 3, adapted for the recess m, in combination with the frame and balls, substantially as described.

3. The adjustable frame D with its swinging ball I or its equivalent, for driving the ball c, substantially in the manner specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 10th day of August, 1869. Witnesses: CHAS. N. HOYT.

IsAAc A. BROWNELL, WILLIAM BEowNELL. 

